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ND deputy defiant after charges for breach of faith over loan

New Democracy MP Kostas Kontogeorgos, former prefect of Evrytania in central Greece, on Friday ruled out the prospect of his resignation after charges were brought against him, and 18 prefectural officials, for breach of faith by a prosecutor in Karpenisi.

"There is no issue here, not even ND has made an issue of it," Kontogeorgos told Skai television, adding that he was the one that had sought the lifting of his parliamentary immunity so that the affair could be investigated and so that "no shadows will remain."

Prosecutors started probing the affair in 2010 after the prefecture of Evrytania provided a guarantee to the firm Evrytania A.E. for a 4.7-million-euro loan backed by the state. The prosecutors' investigation then extended to the allocation of tranches of the loan by the company to third parties and to whether or not the transfers were legal.

Skai understands that Evrytania A.E. never met its loan repayment obligations, obliging regional authorities -- which assumed responsibilities from the Evrytania prefecture following the Kallikratis local authority overhaul -- to cover the loan repayments as the unique guarantor.

Kontogeorgos told Skai that the prefectural administration decided unanimously in 2007 to approve the loan for the company in order to cover debts to third parties, employees and insurance funds that totaled 4.75 million euros.

The MP said he had done his duty, adding that he refused to be "tarred with the same brush as those who have demonstrably caused losses to the Greek state."